Food plate

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a food plate having at least one removable section. The present invention enables a user to hold a food plate and a drinking cup simultaneously with one hand, leaving the other hand free.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/905,977, filed on Nov. 19, 2013.

BACKGROUBND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a plate and more specifically relates to a food plate enabling a person to hold food and a drinking cup simultaneously with one hand, leaving the other hand free.

2. Description of the Related Art

In many social events such as parties and picnics, it is quite common that during a meal a person walks around to socialize with other people. He/she usually holds a plate of food with one hand and a fork or spoon with another hand. This makes him/her difficult to have a plate of food and a cup of drink at the same time. Therefore, the person has to either consume food without drink or consume drink without food while socializing. This is a long-standing problem.

Many people have tried to solve the problem through inventions, such as the U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,373 issued to McKee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,052 issued to Damato, U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,860 issued to Comeaux, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,480 issued to Krueger. In addition to many issued patents, there are several commercial products addressing the problem in the market.

However, these inventions and products have some weakness and disadvantages. Some of them increase manufacturing cost, and some of them are not easy or awkward to use.

BRIEF SYMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention enables a person to hold both a plate of food and a cup of drink with one hand, leaving the other hand free. The appearance of the present invention is similar to a traditional food plate, except there are some perforated lines and curves on the present invention. The parts surrounded by the perforated lines and curves are removable. If a person wants to use the present invention to hold both food and drink, all he/she needs to do is to tear the parts surrounded by the perforated lines and curves off the present invention to create recesses at or near the edge of the plate. Then he/she can put his/her fingers through the recesses to hold a drinking cup and uses the rest parts of his/her hand to hold the food plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing perforated lines and curves on a plate.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention showing recesses on the plate.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention illustrating how to use the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention enables a user to hold a plate of food and a cup of drink with one hand simultaneously, leaving the other hand free.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. On the edge of a food plate 100, there are two removable pieces 110. The removable pieces 110 are connected with the rest of the food plate 100 through perforated lines and curves 120. With the removable pieces 110 attached on the food plate 100, a person can use the present invention as a traditional food plate. If a person wants to hold both a plate of food and a cup of drink simultaneously with one hand, all he/she needs to do is to tear the removable pieces 110 off the plate 100. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention showing that two recesses 210 appear at the edge of the plate 100 after the removable pieces 110 are removed from the plate 100. Once the removable pieces 110 are removed from the plate 100, the person can put his/her fingers through the recesses 210 and hold both the plate 100 and the cup 310 with one hand 320 simultaneously as shown in FIG. 3.

The above embodiment is presented for illustrative purposes and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Other modifications can be undertaken by a skilled artisan without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. For example, the shape, number, and location of the removable piece do not have to be the same as what is shown in FIG. 1. The shape of the removable piece can be regular or irregular; the number of the removable piece can be one, two, three, or any other number; the location of the removable pieces can be at the edge, near the edge, or any other location on a plate. 

1. A device comprising a food-supporting surface having at least one removable portion.
 2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said removable portions are connected with the rest of said food-supporting surface through perforated lines or curves.
 3. A device according to claim 1 wherein said removable portions are on or near the edge of said food-supporting surface. 